Those whippy transitions are the best part for sure. That first turn makes me grey out and, while fun, is the reason I can't ride it more than a couple times in a row.
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Pantherian
- Thread starter redsoxfan787
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I do not haha I took this with a s10 + in night mode and HDR.
I was at KD yesterday and was surprised to find that I didn't grey out at all. Is that due to the cooler temps? Usually I grey out on that first turn every time. It didn't feel like it was going any slower than normal. Still felt like a bat out of hell. I was in row 4, so near the front.
I went around this time 2 years ago and I sat somewhere between rows 3-5 and I didn’t grey out either. Pretty weird
I’d imagine I305’s height requirement has more to do with evacuating from that lift hill than restraint size issues. You can have 5 or 6 year old kids at 48” which would probably introduce other safety issues that aren’t as present on say Millennium Force.
Doesn't MF have a lift system for maintenance and/or evacs similar to what Griffon has?
You're neglecting one key factor: ride intensity. MF is WAY less intense than I305. Intamin most likely got to 48" based on their restraint, but KD felt 54" was more appropriate due to the forces I305 exerts on its riders.
This assumes KD understood just how much force I305 had before they started running it, which is probably not the case based on the changes made early on.
I305's first turn was redesigned to lower maintenance costs, not to mitigate intensity. No one was surprised that dropping down 305 feet into a 270 degree ground-level turn was absurdly intense—they just didn't realize that the ride would chew through wheels daily.
I thought the change wasn't because of wheels (they came up with a new nylon compound to address the intensity) but to knock some speed off as it comes out of the turn so that guests wouldn't be as likely to pass out... Basically, the scarier the ride, the less it gets ridden, the lower the value of their investment becomes.
That's not what I've heard, but we'll probably never actually know for sure at this point.
Well my knowledge is coming from YouTube so my guess is you have far better sources.
That isn't how g-loc works. It's primarily caused by sustained g load, so the new turn really doesn't change that much as it maintains the g load for longer at an albeit slighter lower threshold. The other way it can happen is with sudden jerk, but that is normally designed out on a coaster.
To be fair over the years I have heard both versions from people that seem to be accurate on other events. I would assume that it likely was a combination of both playing a role in the decision to reprofile it.
What it loses in ground speed through the turn it makes up for in maintaining the tightness of the turn as it begins its upward turn. If there is any drop in g-forces it's likely negligible to riders especially since they already have a sustained g-load on their bodies and are more than likely already in the process of blacking out.
Deeply inhale and force all the air up into your chest, and pucker your butt. That's how you reduce the effects of g-loc because it forces your body to maintain blood in the upper parts of your body.
The reprofiling was done as a combination to address both the failing wheels and guests blacking out, and well... If the years have been any indication instead of blowing out multiple wheels daily it now blows them out once a week and guests still regularly gray and black out on the ride.
Try and find me another coaster out there in the world like Intimidator 305 that's an actual detriment to the park it operates in.
I think I feel a brief pop of airtime as it crests the top of the turn, just enough for a quick breather so that while my vision is blurry I'm not all the way gone.
However, I typically do the jet fighter squeeze after a ride op said something about doing it it's opening year and have had good results.
However, I typically do the jet fighter squeeze after a ride op said something about doing it it's opening year and have had good results.
The reprofiling of the turn definitely helps handle the forces. As the train rises, it loses speed and the force decreases slightly. With the original layout, the whole turn was at full speed, and that left you still at ground level, so it took even more positives to get you rising, continuing at full force halfway up the hill. Of course if the wheels can feel the difference, so can you.
It has been said that the radius of the curve is the same, and generally that is true. But surely there are different variations of curvature than before to take advantage of the changes of elevation. During the short transition to the rising track, it also has to apply force upwards, so it would need to decrease in the horizontal curvature correspondingly, though less so than when the rise happened later so had to be steeper. Once that happens, it can continue rising at a constant rate, slightly outside the original path. As it slows, the curve can tighten slightly and rejoin the original hill at a later point. Topping the hill, there was a smoother transition towards airtime slightly earlier, while now it switches to ejector air suddenly, when it transitions to the older track piece cresting the hill.
It has been said that the radius of the curve is the same, and generally that is true. But surely there are different variations of curvature than before to take advantage of the changes of elevation. During the short transition to the rising track, it also has to apply force upwards, so it would need to decrease in the horizontal curvature correspondingly, though less so than when the rise happened later so had to be steeper. Once that happens, it can continue rising at a constant rate, slightly outside the original path. As it slows, the curve can tighten slightly and rejoin the original hill at a later point. Topping the hill, there was a smoother transition towards airtime slightly earlier, while now it switches to ejector air suddenly, when it transitions to the older track piece cresting the hill.